What Does 2 Samuel 3:28 Mean in the King James?
And afterward when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the LORD for ever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
In Hebrew, “guiltless” carries the sense of being clean or cleared, and the claim extends from the speaker to his whole kingdom beside Abner’s named blood.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now as a public claim before the LORD: the speaker places both himself and his kingdom outside the bloodguilt of Abner’s death. It holds that claim beside the named blood itself, leaving the violence explicit and giving the claim the reach of an age.
THE ROOT
נָקִי
nāqî
GROWS FROM
נקה
n-q-h
To be clean, clear, or free from liability.
“guiltless” in this verse is nāqî. The word presents innocence as being cleared of a charge, not merely feeling blameless. David makes that claim before the LORD while naming the blood to which it refers.
ALSO GROWS
nāqâ: To be clean, clear, or acquitted.
נָקָה
This verb makes the legal shade in “guiltless” visible: the claim concerns whether liability remains.
nikkāyôn: Cleanness or innocence.
נִקָּיוֹן
This noun shows the same root describing a state of cleanness, giving David’s declaration the sense of standing clear.
מַמְלַכְתִּי
mamlakhtî
GROWS FROM
מלך
m-l-k
To reign or exercise kingship.
The declaration moves from “I” to “my kingdom,” placing the ruler and the governance associated with him within one claim. The Hebrew word family holds king, reign, and kingdom together.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King.
מֶלֶךְ
The king belongs to the same word family as the kingdom he names, linking personal authority with the wider claim.
mālak: To reign.
מָלַךְ
This verb brings the active exercise of rule into the scope of the declaration.
malkût: Kingship or kingdom.
מַלְכוּת
This related noun carries the sense of rule as well as the realm under it.
THE PATTERN
In scripture, a claim about blood is a claim about accountability before God.
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.THE THREAD
Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.Both verses declare cleanness in relation to blood: here the claim names Abner, while Acts extends it to all people. Together they make innocence a public claim about accountability, not a private feeling.
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